Saints Row 4: Angel With A Shotgun
by N7 Greek-Valkyrie
Summary: Trapped in Zimyak's simulation can you find your crew, get out, and possibly save what's left of the world before it's too late? Who knows, maybe you'll even finally tell her how you feel, after you save her of course.
1. Chapter 1: A Pleasant Day

**Disclaimer: I do not own Saints Row IV or anything to do with it. I do however have creative use of my own character and the idea of my own back story. I hope this appeases you and that you will like what I write, if not, well fuck off! :p Kidding, just leave if you don't like it, otherwise it ruins it for others.**

 _ **Recap:**_ _**Okay, so let me break it down for you. My name is Raven, I'm about 5' 7". My hair is long and pulled into a bun which is held in place by 2 metal chopsticks which are a teal color, it also lets some of my bangs hang down. My stylist calls it a Kabuki hairstyle, my hair is kind of a dark red in color. I have blue eyes, and a chip on my shoulder for the government, alongside mild irritation because anything fun I used to do, I no longer can since becoming President. Sexuality wise I'm at least Bi-Curious, although I know I have an attraction to the female form. Now you may be wondering if I am a female, just to be sure, and yes I am. Now why I told you this has to do with letting you get a general idea of who I am while I tell my story without me having to tell you what I look like every time. As a nice little round off so you get my body type I'm an even balance aside from one percentage of muscular and skinny.**_

* * *

 _ **Previously you were aware of my cabinet being abducted by aliens, and me getting my ass kicked as well. Now I've woken up in a 50's version of Steelport with a poodle-skirt on and some annoying ass music playing in the background as if this was some god awful 50's sitcom, staged applause, laughter, and language censorship included. Now, lets continue, I remember I had just woken up to all this.**_

-Yawns- "Goodness me, What a dream." I said as I got up from my lounge chair and started to walk joyously to the stairs and down to the kitchen. ' _What the fuck? I did not just say that shit, and how the fuck is this considered walking? I am swinging my arms back and forth and my legs look like I'm marching, and is that a poodle skirt! Oh, hell no! Just where the fuck am I?_ ' "Gosh, what a glorious day!" Cue random laughing in background. ' _Seriously...I can't wait until I get control of my body again._ '

I walk over to the stairs and slide down the railing prompting a title screen to show up. **Leave** **it to** **the** **Saints** **!** Being the name of this apparent show I'm in. In the background you also here a voice saying that it was brought to you by " **Friendly Fryer** " the only choice in home cookware. ' _Ugh. Please put me out of my misery soon!_ ' "Mmmh. Something sure smells tasty." I say as I continue walking to the kitchen where my...wife? Is preparing breakfast.

As I walk into the kitchen the woman at the stove, who I am to presume is my wife in the odd show, turns towards me. "Morning, Dear! I made your favorite breakfast." She says in an oddly chipper tone of voice while giving me a wink. I sit down at the table with a stack of pancakes in front of me and she turns back to the stove, but continued speaking. While she does this, I begin eating. "Oh Mr. King from across the street is going out of town for a few weeks. He was wondering if you could check his mail for him. Oh, and your friend Pierce called. I'm sure he has some crazy new get-rich scheme. Oh, that Pierce. Such a card. And someone named Dex stopped by earlier. I didn't recognize him so I just sent him away." I had stopped eating now, which was good because the pancakes kept refilling themselves and I could swear they would go on forever. ' _Dear gods, I was wondering if she'd ever shut up_.'

I got up from the table and headed into the living room and she began talking yet again. "I think I heard Timmy deliver the paper earlier. Could you fetch it, dear?" ' _Yes, if only to get you to shut up._ ' I thought to myself, at least my thoughts were my own, despite having no control of my actions thus far. "Sure thing!" I replied back as I headed to the front door and outside. A man passing by on the sidewalk noticed by and waved saying "Hi-diddily-I, neighbor." I seemed to have ignored him as I didn't say anything, although he didn't seem to mind as he kept walking as If nothing happened. I walked to the end of the sidewalk and proceeded to bend down reaching for the paper. "I wonder what's new in the world today." Although for some reason reaching the paper seemed to be harder than normal. Once I had a hold of it though I looked it over as If I was attempting to see what was wrong. Before I could get to into it though, a cop from across the street waved and called me out. "You ready to meet the fine people of Steelport?" He asked me. ' _No, not particularly. As I'm beginning to think that this is some fucked up virtual reality and I'm simply a pawn in a bigger game. Makes me wish Kinzie were here to get me out_.'

Sadly I had no way of voicing my internal comment, so the cop said. "Well, get in the car." I replied in turn. "Wait, don't I usually drive?" The cop responded with, "It's your world. Go ahead!" Having no other choice, I walked to the car and got in. The cop got in the passenger seat, While I seemed to have some control while driving, there was an invisible barrier making it so I could only go one way. It was highly frustrating, not that anyone noticed.

"Boy they sure are anxious to meet you." The cop said while I drove.

"They?" I seemed to be regaining a little bit of control over my person and what I said, thank heavens for small favors. ' _About damn time!_ '

"Hehe. Why you sure do have a queer sense of humor." He chuckled, making me frown in thought.

"Is it just me, or does everything look kind of weird?" Okay, maybe not full control as I had already figured that out, but it was getting there.

"Now, what's that you say.." The cop asked.

"Just a nagging feeling, like this is all..." The cop cut me off.

"Can't wait to get out to the lake this weekend. I hear the fish are really bitin'." He sounded excited, but I was skeptical.

"The fish are...huh? What are you talking about?" I asked. ' _Ah, an attempt to drag my consciousness further into the dark making me nothing more than a puppet. Too bad I'm smarter than that, my mind is my own, no one uses it against me. Nice try though, Zimmy._ '

"Don't you worry now. We're almost there." The cop replied.

I continued driving, but the car kept hitting barriers. Finally I actually said something pertaining to it. "Wait, there is definitely something wrong with this car."

The cop just disregarded it and said, "Oop, careful now."

* * *

It only took a short while more and then we were parked outside of a diner called " **Gingers Dive** ". The cop seemed eager to get me inside to talk to the people, I however wished I could just take his gun and run away. However, he encouraged me to glad-hand a bit, which turned out to mean waving a lot at random people acting as if I was happy to see them. When I walked inside the diner a man walked up to me eager to shake my hand and started talking.

"Oh my gosh! It's the President." He said while shaking my hand up and down.

"Hi, how are...What the ****" I said when his image began to go fuzzy, like we were getting a bad signal or something. The only good thing I could say was that I finally had control of my body again.

"We don't use that kind of language here in Steelport." The cop said as he and the other patrons of the diner all got up and began to form a crowd looking ready to rush me, so I did the logical thing and turned tail and ran out of the diner shutting the door behind me. This turned out to be the smart thing to do since everyone started banging on the door wanting to be let out as if to maul me.

"What kind if **** are you ******* trying to pull?" I said as I looked around outside at the random angry pedestrians and ran to the car and dove in. Some senior citizens were pounding on it, but I put the petal to the metal after starting it up and drove off. "I want to get the **** away from here." I said in confusion and slight panic. ' _Man I wish Kinzie were here. I can't do shit without access to a computer, not that anyone knows I'm smarter than I let them think._ '

I continued driving when a voice came from thin air. "Hello. Hello?" ' _Holy shit! Wish and you shall receive!_ ' I thought with glee.

"Kinzie? What is this? Kinzie, where are you?" I still had to play dumb, for now at least.

"FINALLY!" Kinzie sounded so excited to be able to reach me. I didn't realize she missed me so much. "Listen to me. No time to explain, but you have to break free."

"Break free from what, Kinzie?" ' _This simulation if I had to hazard a guess. This is sad having to hide a part of who I am. In time though I'll let them know the truth._ '

"The place you're in isn't real. Whatever it's having you do, you need to stop." She said matter of factly.

"What. I'm just driving." I continued acting confused.

"Okay good. There's a park nearby, head there and give me a sec..." She said before signing off I suppose. ' _Okay, sound simple enough. I'm guessing we need to break the simulation so she's going to work on helping me cause mass chaos so I can break free._ '

I continued in the car towards the park. Pedestrians were running all over the place like tiny chickens with their heads cut off. It would be more humorous if I wasn't stuck here at the moment. As I approached the park I got a small sense of foreboding.

"Brace yourself." Kinzie said out of no where.

"Brace for wha...Jesus...H." I said as the car I was driving disappeared and flung me forward and onto my face in the middle of the road. I carefully got up and brushed myself off as Kinzie began talking again.

"I need some time before I can get you out. It would be really helpful if you could just, y'know, just be you." She said, she sounded stressed. Not good for one of my hackers, makes me worried.

"Be me?" I asked in order to clarify if she was asking me to cause mass pandemonium or not.

"This simulation is all about normalcy. Pleasantry. Order. All the things you hate. Go forth. Unleash hell." Kinzie said. To be fair that's not entirely true, I do like those things, but in moderation. I just prefer things that are slightly chaotic, it's more fun that way.

It turned out to be quite ironic that there were two cop cars parked behind me when I turned around and had cops firing at me. Plenty of practice as leader of the Saints meant that I was shooting them in the head a lot. Once I was done with that set though, then another pair showed up to my right which I also began taking out. The progress with which I was making, made Kinzie pop back in to say a few more words.

"Keep it up, the simulation is resisting, but just keep going." I nodded, it's not like that would be very hard to do. This was the most fun I'd had since before becoming President. As I kept downing the cops, I noticed that it just wasn't causing enough chaos. Apparently the cyber angel Kinzie agreed. "You need to do more! Bigger. Hold on I'm sending you something." This instantly peaked my interest. Knowing Kinzie, I would imagine it to be some sort of Grenade Launcher or Rocket Launcher, wider range of destruction with larger amount of damage dealt.

I wondered into the park shooting everyone in site, as I got closer to the middle though I got this sudden urge to jump for joy. Which would be explained by Kinzie telling me to find the Cat fountain, which was a Professor Kenki statue, he was holding a rocket launcher. I did in fact jump for joy when I saw that, I felt like a little kid on Christmas. I holstered the pistol in the waistband of my skirt as I picked up the rocket launcher.

"Gosh, this is swell." ' _Ugh! I thought I had stopped doing that! Fine, time to blow some shit up...and look here comes my next victim._ ' I thought to myself as another cop car came speeding at me. I hefted the launcher up onto my shoulder, took aim, and fired. The car and its inhabitants were blown to bits, I smirked at the destruction. I went around the park firing at the cops that tried to stop me as well as all of the parked cars and other folks who got in my way.

"You're doing great, the simulation is...oh no. Wait a minute." Kinzie said, her tone of voice did not sound like it held good news.

"Wait, wait, wait...what's going on Kinzie?" I asked as I continued blowing stuff up. All of a sudden after a few more large explosions, the cop from the diner dropped in from the air in a super hero pose and sounded like a cowboy.

"Yeeeeeeeeehaaaawwww." He said as he charged at me, I fired to keep him at a distance. "Couldn't leave well enough alone, could you? You had to push, and push, and push. I hope you've enjoyed your last moments." I kept firing at him every time he turned or crouched to take off in a jump, he died fairly quickly. Once that was done, I walked over to him and began kicking him in the stomach for added stress relief.

Zimmy's voice came over the airways next. "I'm impressed."

I looked around after having dropped the launcher. "Where the hell are...Fuck me." I said as I looked up at the sky to see several pink dots alined to make the vague impression of Zimmy's face.

"I should have realized a prison of peace would never contain a sociopath like yourself." He murmured.

"I'm more of a puckish rogue." I said and shrugged.

"A rose by any other name." he uttered. ' _Seriously? Is he flirting with me or something?_ '

"Are you trying to kill me, or sleep with me?" My sentiments exactly. Finally, I speak whats on my mind.

"Charming."

"See there you go with those mixed signals again." I chuckled.

"Then allow me to be perfectly clear." He said. "I am the architect of your reality. I build what I want, I destroy what I want, and your bravado means. Nothing." he manifested himself in front of me and waved his hand sending the gun in my hands sailing out of them and across the grass. He continued walking towards me in a threatening manner. "Fighting back it pointless, my friend." I tried to run away. "There's no where to run." He taunted as he followed after me at a leisurely pace.

He teleported in front of me and the surroundings turned black. "You belong to me." I turned around to run again and he teleported in front me me again lifting me up by my neck making me wince at a memory this reminded me of. "Now, onto more pleasant things. I'm going to place you in your new home. Try to run again, and I'll destroy your pitiful planet. TTFN." he said as he dropped me through a hole into another simulation.

' _Oh joy. My life just fucking hates me._ ' I thought as I fell.


	2. Chapter 2: The Fundamentals

I fell on my front smack dab in front of a burning building, it was such a great way to enter this new simulation. -rolls eyes in exaggeration- "Well, that was different. Now, where am I..." I muttered as I pushed myself up from the ground and stood up.

"Come in President. Can you hear me?" Kinzie's voice sounded in the air again, I sighed in relief before responding.

"Oh, I hear ya, all right. Only, HOW am I hearing you? Considering I don't have a phone?" I asked, and as much as I knew, that was actually a fairly decent question that I didn't have the answer too.

"I just patched myself into your simulation and am projecting my voice through the audio system. You should be able to hear me from anywhere. And you don't have to yell." She explained.

"Okay, cause you chattering in my skull isn't annoying. Kinzie, I'm unarmed. How about getting me out." I asked, I doubted it would be that simple, but I had to try.

"I can't do that until I back trace the signal to your physical body. Until then, you're stuck there so you might want to go buy a gun." she replied.

"Great, retail therapy at Friendly Fire." I uttered sarcastically. I ran onto the street and jumped into the nearest car and started it up. It seems people leave their keys in the cars in this simulation. "Where's the nearest store again?" I really had no clue, so it was an honest question.

Kinzie sighed. "Set your GPS from the map in your Hub. It's like a digital information pad. You know, like those mobile devices kids have these days." Kinzie informed.

"Awesome, can I update my status on it?" I had to throw in a stupid question or people might get hip to the idea that I'm not as dumb as I act.

"No." She replied. ' _I didn't think so._ '

I accessed the Hub like she told me to and brought up the map, then selected the nearest Friendly Fire, and backed out. Now my GPS was showing me the directions I started in the direction they were telling me to go. As I drove I switched the channel to GenX, to listen to some decent music. That channel always reminds me of Shaundi, seeing as it made me remember when I saved her from her psycho ex Veteran Child who happened to be the Dj for that station. This was of course before we lost Gat, and Gat lost Aisha. As I was driving I had to ask. "You are getting me out of here right?"

"Eventually. I'm still trying to figure out the Zin systems. Basic hacks like hooking into the audio system isn't hard. Trying to disconnect you and find your body, well that's a different matter entirely." I frowned at that bit of knowledge. Their tech was more advanced than I originally would have given them credit for, but that was mainly because of the manner in which my people and I were taken.

"And getting me into some decent clothes, isn't a 'basic hack'?" I asked incredulously.

"On my list of priorities, that doesn't even make the top five hundred." I nodded with pursed lips. ' _I'll remember that when you're stuck in a simulation and I have to break you out._ '

"If you were wearing this, you'd make this a priority." I remarked.

"If I was wearing that, I'd be asking you to shoot me in the head." She smartly replied back.

"Touche..."

* * *

I continued driving to my predetermined destination. I drove through red lights, and honestly tried not to hit anyone. It was kind of sad, but I was missing basic human interaction, and the knowledge that this was just a simulation was making me kind of depressed. "Do you think the entire White House was leveled?" I asked, in hopes of maybe getting a small bit of positivity from her.

"I don't know, Maybe, Why?" She asked. ' _Well that wasn't a definite yes, so maybe it wasn't all gone._ '

"I was thinking we should get Ultor to rebuild it. Maybe have it sealed up if there's an attack. Maybe transform into a giant tank..." Now I was just being ridiculous, but in hindsight imagining the White House becoming a giant tank was kind of funny.

"Are you serious?" Apparently not everyone thought it was funny.

"Could use some more stripper poles in the bedrooms, too." I added. Everything is better with stripper poles, right?

"More? You already had 'some' stripper poles?" She inquired.

"It was my first executive order." I chuckled.

"Wow..." She sounded like she wasn't sure if she should be amazed at my creativity, or my stupidity. Though to be fair, even people who have to wear stuffy suits deserve to let loose and relax sometimes. And better to be in the White House where there is less likely a chance of a tabloid getting a hold of the information, than going out in public and having the paparazzi taking pictures and posting it all over the internet. See, I think.

I continued driving and as I came to the end of the road I noticed a giant red dome in the center of the area the road divided and went around. "What's that big dome supposed to be?" I asked genuinely curious.

"Hmm, not sure. I'll have to look into that." she replied in an intrigued manner.

"Place is crawling with Zimmy's goons." I said.

"It's Zinyak boss."

"Whatever, I'm still going to call him Zimmy."

"Anyways, from what I can see a lots been taken over by the Zin's. There's alien technology everywhere." She sounded in awh, which made me smirk and shake my head.

"You're enjoying this aren't you." It was a statement not a question.

"Just a little." She sounded a little shy when admitting that, kind of cute really.

I continued driving. I passed through several more red lights, made a few turns and gave up on not running into anyone as they seemed to run into the middle of the road when I was driving. Eventually I made it to Friendly Fire though, and sighed in relief. I could finally arm myself who knows what bullshit Zimmy would throw at me next.

"Out of curiosity. Is Zimmy seriously going to let me buy weapons here? I mean it seems doubtful." I questioned.

"I don't know. Do you remember how to shop for yourself or did being President make you too good for that?" Kinzie replied with a slight bite to her tone. ' _Okay, guess I pissed her off. Wonder what I did..._ '

I walked into Friendly Fire and proceeded to buy an SMG and a Heavy Pistol. I upgraded both of them fully on tier 1. Once I was done I walked back out of the shop and Kinzie resumed speaking to me, this time with less of an attitude.

"Hope you got something useful, cause the cops are swarming your location."

"Oh, good. It's time to remind them of the Second Amendment." I smirked and made sure I had my newly bought pistol at the ready.

"Zinyak's running this place, I don't think the Constitution holds any weight in this world." She just had to throw in some more logic, didn't she.

"It's Zimmy as far as I'm concerned. Also whatever, I'm going to kick some ass." I replied, ducking behind cars as I neared the cops that were firing at me. It was fun going around and shooting all of them. I really had to get more money though, the pistol fired and reloaded too slowly. If I was going to be raising hell for Ol Zimmy Boy then I needed my guns to be in top working order. "And now what? I just keep my head down until you can pull me out of here?" I asked when the cops were dead."

"Not yet, there's a Zin patrol close to you that'll need to be cleared out before that happens. That is, If the President is up for killing a few more aliens." I smiled, she posed it so it would cater to my pride as a gang leader, as well as the President since these bozos did attack The White House and Earth. She didn't need too, but she didn't know that yet.

"Actually Miss Press Secretary, that's your best suggestion since I got here..."

"What can I say, I'm good at my job." She was proud of that, that was obvious.

"If you were that good, I'd be out of here." I had to get a dig in somewhere, even though I knew she was trying her best.

"True." However, she did just agree with me...Are we sure Earth is still standing?

I shook my head and began heading towards the marker on my map for the Zin guys I needed to kill. As I walked across the street and got into the car I had stolen when I landed in this place, I wondered where I could stop to get out of these god awful clothes. I didn't have much, but at least the cops dropped some money when they died. I drove along for a bit and ended up driving past a building that then made me throw the car into reverse to make sure I wasn't seeing things. My lovely chain of stores Planet Saint's was replaced by this douche-bags store called Planet Zin's...Oh hell no. I walked in and managed to grab the cheapest light blue tank top, and dark blue cargo pants that I could find. I didn't lie the asshole ripping off my brand, but I could at least appreciate the fact that I was now out of that god awful Poodle-Skirt. -shudders- It will haunt my nightmares.

I went back outside after paying, ditching the other outfit, and got back in the car to continue to my destination. I turned back on the radio and "This is how we do it" By Montell Jordan came on. I nodded my head along to the song, it was really catchy, to be fair when I first heard it I thought it was one of the members from NSYNC singing it. No bad mouthing NSYNC, I happen to like those guys, they had good music. Granted the one guy couldn't dance for shit and was too stiff, but it still wasn't half bad.

I drove for a couple of blocks before pulling off in front of a house and grabbing my pistol. I then got out of the car and proceeded to point my weapon at one of Zimmy's goons. "Hey, assholes. Looking for me?" I hollered to get their attention.

"Just kill them and leave already." Kinzie griped, ruining my fun. I grumbled as I continued to shoot the idiots in the head or chest area while ducking behind the side of the building next to me in order to avoid their fire from their guns. It looks like their guns fire lasers, oh joy. I was minorly disappointed in how few of them there were around the area, but I digress.

"Okay, gotta get out of the spotlight now." I was going to ask where I could go when Kinzie beat me to it.

"Use my warehouse, it's not far." She replied to my unasked question. However I wanted to be a smartass.

"Couldn't I just stay in a hotel, or something instead?"

"What's wrong with my inner sanctum?" I raised my eyebrows, because really? You couldn't not know what was wrong with the 'Inner Sanctum' of Kinzie, unless you were Kinzie herself apparently.

"Nothing, Nothing. Not a thing." ' _Oh yeah cause that's convincing, who are you trying to convince, her or yourself?_ '

I put away my gun in my waistband and went to poke around the dead goons bodies in-case they dropped some cash or ammo. When I didn't find any I returned to the car, got in, started it up and took off to Kinzie's warehouse of fun. It was surprisingly just a few blocks away from my current location, which made getting there a breeze. Now, who wonders if the inside is like it was on Earth, or a normal warehouse courtesy of Zimmy? I pondered as I brought the car up to the garage door, the door opened and I drove inside and parked the car. I got out and looked around and sighed, she wasn't going to take this well.

"Hate to tell you this Kinzie, but your stuffs all gone."

"What?!... Dammit! Zinyak removed all signs of the Saints from the simulation. That means..."

' _Oh shit..._ ' "We don't have ANY safe houses here."

"Right."

"Sooo, how do I fix that?" ' _Please tell me It involves killing off some more of Zimmy's goons?'_

"Hmmm. Not sure yet. Though any help you can give me on gathering information on the systems simulation would be useful. I'll leave any tasks I have for you in the Quest section of your Hub."

"Check. Anything else?"

"Just hang in there. I promise I'll find a way to get you out."

"Do it, and I'll rename the internet after you." ' _Probably not lying, its depressing being in here._ '


	3. Chapter 3: Hot & Cold

"These data clusters seem to be loose bits of code left behind by the simulation for some reason. I've only been able to locate a small amount right now, which I'm having trouble locking on to. Once in the general area of a cluster I should be able to direct you to it's location." Kinzie said through the simulation.

"Kinzie, what exactly are these things you're sending me after?" I asked, acting confused meanwhile internally I was analyzing what she said and coming to at least one logical conclusion.

"I'm still trying to figure out what they are, but they seem like they'll be useful. There are several near my warehouse. I can't pinpoint their exact locations, but I marked the general area's for you." Kinzie stated. Somehow, I could hear typing in the background which was weird, and oddly reassuring at the same time.

"Eh..fine..." I said. I started back up the car I was in and reversed out of the warehouse. _'The clusters are probably bits of code that couldn't assimilate themselves into the simulation without messing up whatever Zinyak had planned. Odds are if Kinzie can somehow use those bits to help me cause chaos I may be able to get out of her sooner rather than later.'_ I drove around until my hub started pulsing which indicated that one of the data clusters was in close vicinity to my location. I got out and rounded a corner of a building and saw it glowing on the ground, cautiously I walked up to it and managed to absorb it. "I got one, Kinzie. Is it safe to touch?" _'I ask after I've already absorbed the damn thing. Least there was no negative effects so far.'_

"Safe-ish...just keep getting them." Kinzie did not sound very reassuring when she said they were safe-ish. However, what's done is done so I just shrugged and got back in the car. I then headed to the approximate location of the next cluster.

On the way to the next marker, I heard a song I greatly enjoyed, "Finally, a song I like. Come on, Kinzie, sing along..." I tried to convince her in a sweet voice.

"No, I don't think so." She said in a childish way.

"Come on, please, Kinzie. You can be the Kat!" I said encouragingly.

"Not gonna happen." Someone's being a butt.

"We come together..." I sang. "come on, your turn, Kinzie." I said enticingly. "And you know, It ain't fiction." I continued singing.

"No!" She said very firmly.

"Kinzie, you're gonna sing for your Commander In Chief." I said stubbornly.

"Fuck. That!" Apparently she doesn't do sing alongs...got it.

"That could have been a real bonding experience..." I pouted. _'How come only Pierce and Shaundi will sing with me? Am I that bad a singer?'_

* * *

I finally found the second cluster. "Picking up another one, Kinz." I stated.

"This data is amazing. Incomplete, but amazing." Kinzie stated in awe, this peaked my interest.

"I'm afraid to ask, but how is it amazing?" I inquired. _'Not really afraid, more intrigued, but I digress.'_

"It seems that anything that broke the normal rules of the simulation deposited loose data that can be incorporated into your programming." Kinzie explained in excitement. _'So like I figured earlier. Good to know.'_

"Okay...that actually made some kind of sense." I said acting confused, even though it made total sense to me.

"But since the data is so fragmented it doesn't leave behind a complete subroutine to loop into your code base." She continued. _'Okay, so more fragments are needed to make the whole piece of code that she needs. Not hard to figure out really if you pay attention.'_

"Nope, you lost me again." I said. Man I can't wait to stop acting stupid and actually be myself.

"Ugh, it's simple; the more clusters you get, the more you can upgrade and alter your abilities." Kinzie said, sounding exasperated.

"See, that's all you needed to say!" I exclaimed, driving towards the next cluster which a couple blocks away. I turned into the parking lot, got out and headed over to the next cluster. " Do I need more than three of these things?" I questioned.

"Still missing some key fragments, get one more and we'll see." Kinzie said. _'This reminds me of the fact that four quarters make a dollar. So maybe 4 clusters makes one complete bit of code?'_ I theorized.

"So if these data clumps..." I started.

"Ugh, clusters..." Kinzie corrected.

"Okay, clusters. If they're so useful why aren't Zimmy's people scooping them up?" I inquired, while getting back in my vehicle.

" Why would they need them?" Kinzie said confusedly.

"To make his people stronger or something? Look you're the one who said they're 'amazing'." I groused.

"If Zinyak wants to change the code for his people, he can just...He WROTE the simulation." She exclaimed, obviously frustrated by my utter lack of comprehension.

"But, if he just leaves them lying around, then...eh, nevermind. I'll just accept this and move on." I sounded dismayed at the lack of interest in what I had to say. No matter how right she might have been, I still had to act confused. So I headed towards the fourth and hopefully final cluster segment.

"Probably better that way." Kinzie said. I swear I could just visualize her typing away at her keyboard and nodding along to what I had to say. It wasn't even because I didn't understand, but she didn't want to explain.

I pulled into a parking space next to what used to be my apartment building. I stared at the floating pieces of rubble that were suspended in midair by some outside force of Zimmy's making. "Zimmy destroyed my apartment!" I said in outrage.

Kinzie groaned. "That place should have been condemned a long time ago."

I proclaimed in dismay, "I just wish I could have saved my shoes..." _'Plus my games and weapons, but whose counting those.'_ I thought to myself as I collected the fourth and hopefully final part of the code cluster.

"That should be enough. Let's see what I can do here... Check your HUB." Kinzie reported.

I walked back over to the car and hopped in. Bringing up the HUB I decided to check out the nearest clothing store for a couple new outfits. After selecting my destination I drove across town to what would have been Planet Saints, which was now called Planet Zim. I shook my head in dismay as I headed inside. Once inside I had to smile at how easy it was in the simulation to change clothes. It was basically like playing a video game. I could open a tab and scroll through options, change colors of certain bits on the clothing, then buy them if I wanted.

I ended up buying a leather jacket with white undershirt. The jacket itself had black as the lining and top of the back, while the rest was a dark blue, it was very snazzy. I had on regular denim jeans which were only slightly faded, and some sneakers. That was only one outfit though. The second outfit that I bought and kept on was a little more feminine, which would have made Shaundi proud. _'I wonder how she's doing. If this is my version of hell, I can only imagine what hers is like. I can only hope it doesn't have Veteran Child involved. That was some of her worse memories, it got better after I saved her. Heh, look at her now. She went from a girl with dreadlocks who smoked weed and other junk, to a self made woman who takes no shit. To bad out of all the people she's dated, she still hasn't noticed me.'_

This outfit was more of a Track Top Combo. It was a gray halter type top, which a half jacket over it which was white with blue lining. It also came with light blue skinny jeans, I swapped out the heels for my more practical sneakers. I didn't do heels, I wanted to be able to run away if needed and not break my ankle. So after sticking with this outfit and making sure everything was paid for I hopped back into my car and opened up the HUB. I then clicked on the powers tab and enabled Super Sprint, and Super Jump. Once I backed out of the HUB I was coated in blinding purple light.

"This feels amazing!" I exclaimed, feeling energized all of a sudden after that boost in ability.

"Here, let me load up a training program for you to test your powers" she stated, she seemed eager to see the results.

* * *

"I think I figured out how this works." Kinzie said when I came back to Zimmy's simulation from her testing room program. "Run along the path collecting the power orbs, which should boost your new speed. Every time you hit a checkpoint you'll be able to stay in the program a bit longer so you can reach the end. Though you probably want to avoid the firewalls along the way. Good luck!" _'So the challenges are like a game within a game? Man, if I don't get out of here soon my brains going to overload from all this. Soon I won't be able to tell reality from simulation, and that's a scary thought.'_ I thought to myself.

"Should I be worried about who set this race up?" It was after all a very valid question considering who stuck me in here to begin with, I thought to myself as I started the race.

"Dunno, but it seems that when you break through any checkpoints along the race, the district's reality matrix will overload a little." She stated. _'So...in layman terms the more checkpoints I hit and the more races I compete in and win, the more the simulation becomes destabilized. Which in turn means I'm closer to escaping.'_

"Uh... one more time, Kinzie?" I questioned, acting dumb was starting to wear on my nerves. Maybe once I got out of this simulation I'd drop my facade of ignorance.

"It means the simulation doesn't like it, and we're able to control the area." She reiterated so I would understand.

"Hey, that actually makes sense." I marveled.

"It did the first time I said it too." She groused.

"True..." I muttered under my breath. "Keep saying shit that I understand and I'll buy you a pony." I mentioned aloud.

"Lies." Kinzie said in resignation and a small undercurrent of confusion.

At this point in the conversation I was about halfway through the race. I could see the ending over a few more buildings and on another ones roof. When I reached the top I sighed in relief and also had the urge to fist pump the air as I noticed I won gold for finishing so quickly in the race.

* * *

"It looks like these Hotspots are protected by shield generators. Getting near them will be tricky, but you'll have to shut down each one before you can take out the central service point. Which of course if protected by even more Zin, so... good luck with that." Kinzie informed me, which was less than reassuring.

"Care to define 'Hotspot', Kinzie?" I inquired, mostly for shits and giggles at this point. I just wanted to hit something.

"Basically a giant workstation. A system like the simulation you're in probably requires constant maintenance, which is what these seem to be for." She readily informed me. _'Huh, so like when your computer has anti-virus and stuff and needs to keep up to date. Shut it down, and it makes it easier to break the sim.'_

"Tell me there's only one of these?" I griped. _'Hah! As if it would be that simple. There's probably more than four.'_

"Of course not." She sounded insulted, as I ran using my super sprint towards the nearest Hotspot. I jumped onto buildings and collected more clusters along the way to upgrade my stamina for running and jumping. Now if only real life was this easy.

"Jesus, that thing is big." I said once I reached the area and got a good look at it.

"Focus on the shield generators, otherwise you'll never get to the main console." She reprimanded.

I hopped up a building to the first generator. Thankfully they were easy to find as the dome that was the Hotspot seemed to have red beams emitting from the top of it to the different generators. That made finding and eliminating them that much easier. I proceeded to go to town on the Zin around the first generator and had fun sending them flying using a baseball bat I had acquired recently. It would seem the powers didn't just augment my speed and jump ability, but also my strength as well. After they were taken care of I proceeded to reach inside the generator, grab a chunk full of wires, and yank them out. Turns out my penchant for destruction was actually useful in this world. Who knew.

"With the shield down you can get to the console at the base of the structure." She stated after I had yanked out the wires on the second generator.

"Yeah, that's not gonna be a problem..." I griped as I crouched to build up my jump and then sprung up, launching myself from the second generator, halfway to the structure in question. After another jump I was next to the structure. After taking out the surrounding Zin, I walked up to the console and settled into a horse stance as I rapidly began to punch the console. "I can do this...I can do this." I muttered, reminding myself why I was doing this. With a final punch the whole structure lite up bright blue, which I would guess meant I now controlled it, not Zimmykins.

"Um...I'm showing some strange readings close to you..." Kinzie said concernedly.

Looking up at the sky I frowned. "Okay, fiery rain can't be a good sign..." I moaned as this strange golem like entity landed on the ground and snarled at me. "What the fuck is HE?" I gasped.

"I don't know, but it isn't reading like a normal Zin. I think...I think you can integrate your code with it." She said only seeming half confident in her hypothesis.

"And that's supposed to mean, what? I don't have to fuck it do I?" I laughed to alleviate the tension.

"What? No! It means that once you take him down get close enough and I think you can absorb him." She said in shock.

"Right...cause I want THAT crawling around in me." I griped attempting to shoot the thing into oblivion as I dodged its attacks.

As someone who values there life it isn't called cheating when you use your surroundings to your advantage, it's merely having a tactical advantage and using it. Case in point I noticed a shipping container on the ground without a lid that was small enough to crouch in. So I ran and hid inside to deflect that monstrosities energy blasts and sniped at it from safety until it fell down. At that point I lunged for it and just like Kinzie guessed, it absorbed into my body in another brilliant display of a bright purple light show.

"Yes! What a rush." I said ecstatic that I wasn't dead. I guess my will to live overruled it's will to survive.

"Hey, it worked!" Kinzie sounded surprised and happy about this discovery."

"Yes, bravo... Perhaps my wardens underestimated you. I won't let them make the same mistake twice!" Zimmy promised.

"Uh...That can't be good." She said worriedly.

"Eh, fuck him, Kinzie. How about setting up one of those training rooms for me?" I inquired politely.

"I think I can do that." She said a little calmer.


End file.
